Don’t you just love press conferences that really announce nothing of substance. Lots of music, flashy lights, impressive backdrop, and then the talking head enters and uses too many words to fill a balloon with hot air. I think press conferences used to have substance. It seems just an excuse to get a sound bite captured for the 24 hour news cycle.
And it often seems as though those who give these conferences haven’t really thought through the second and third order effects of this great new thing being announced, at least the politicians don’t seem to worry about the ‘what’s next’ of these projects. I think they feel that the sound of their voice will magically make things happen.
This seeking of the limelight is one of the big things wrong with this world. The leaders need more and more of this attention, this power to keep them going. It is almost as if it were the oxygen they breathe. And shame on us for giving them oxygen!
Jesus was a very different type of person. Without even speaking of His Divinity, we can speak about the way He did things. He often didn’t want publicity. He wanted something other than crowds. If you look at the contents of chapters six and seven of Mark you see Jesus trying to pull aside with His disciples, but He keeps getting interrupted by people with needs, needs which He alone has the ability to meet.
Jesus moves from one non-Jewish territory to another, from Tyre to Decapolis. He leaves the seaport and goes across Galilee to the East and ends up on the other side of the Jordan River. There was a group of ten cities there. There was not a large Jewish influence in this area. But Jesus goes there with His disciples trying to stay under the radar, avoid notice and publicity.
But Jesus is not without witness there. If you remember, Jesus cast out a whole crowd of demons from a man who lived in the tombs. Jesus sent him back to his home, to this ten city region. His job was to simply tell people what Jesus had done for him. I think he was successful!
Some people hear that Jesus is in town and they bring a man to Him who needs help. He can neither hear nor speak. In our publicity driven society this would have meant a press conference with an announcement: I am going to heal this man! Cameras flash and video loops are created of Jesus touches, spits and groans.
But Jesus pulls the man aside. He wants to avoid publicity. His resurrection and His power flowing through His followers after Pentecost will be enough. The changed lives will speak more than any news conference. Results, lasting results, demonstrate the Truth of His message.
If only we could get what is promised in the news conferences! Or maybe it is a good thing we don’t get it!
The Arnold Journey 